Prittier Than the Image in the Mirror
by Any-Clan
Summary: Chaseshipping Duke wakes up early every morning to put on his make up. Some mornings are better than others, and today he's left in tears. Tristan now has to pick up the pieces and convince them their beautiful, just the way they are. (sorta, I can't think of a summery for this)


It was early. It had to be early, really. Not that his looks took a long time, but Dukes make-up was more than a little bit of liner. No, it went further, to concealers and under-eye creams and powders to make his skin look dewy. THEN the jet black liquid and perhaps a bit of chap stick. Nothing too much, though. Right?

Some mornings were a bit too early after staying up a bit too late. On those mornings Dukes hands shook with fatigue and he was half asleep, not bothering to control his thoughts. Letting suppressed feelings rise to the top.

_Not good enough._

Really?

_U-G-L-Y! _

Seriously?

_No wonder you've never gotten what you've really wanted._

I'm happy.

_You didn't beat Yugi. You didn't get Serenity. _

I didn't need to do either of those things. I'm happy.

_But if you were perfect and got those things, then your dad would love you. You'd be happier._

Happier.

* * *

It was too early for Tristan. Even though most of the world was getting up at this time, and Duke had probably been up for an hour longer, it was still too early. Tristan walked down the hallway towards the bathroom.

A sound like crying. Tristan stopped, listening. It sounded like Duke was sobbing in the bathroom. Tristan supposed that it could be sneezing. Probably not. Duke sneezed like a kitten. **(I can totally see him having a kitty sneeze)** Tristan opened the door to find a scene that he never expected.

Duke was leaning over the sink, compacts and vials and a tube of liquid liner half open and forgotten, bawling like a baby. Big, fat, redundantly huge tears rolled down his red face and his hair was sticky with snot. His whole body shook as a new wave of tears racked it, despite already looking pretty weak in the first place from fatigue.

"D-Duke…?"

Duke whipped his head up, tears still falling, and then scrunched his face up before shaking his head. After a moment he turned it a little to face Tristan.

"Tristan? Do you…do you think I'm pretty?" He asked. Tristan was flabbergasted.

"Duke, I think you're amazing," He said as he moved some hair away from his lovers face and tried to get it away from the snot.

"But do you think I'm pretty?"

"Yes. Beautiful, even more so."

"Tristan?"

"Hm?" Tristan began to braid Dukes hair.

"Would…you've noticed me if I had been ugly?"

"…"

This wasn't the best response. Much like Lucy after not being immediately answered, Duke began to dislike it. He began to panic. Tristan ran a callous hand up and down Dukes back.

"Yes."

"You didn't answer right away." _Shit!_

"I just had to try and imagine it."

"So you're saying you'd maybe try me if Serenity hadn't worked out."

"NO!"

Duke whimpered, and looked down. Tristan kissed his temple. Duke had a bad reaction to raised voices, and Tristan tried to keep quiet whenever there was a situation where he was screaming. Fights were the worst. Midway though, Duke would break down in tears.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to shout," Tristan apologized. Duke put his head on his shoulder.

"S'okay…"

Tristan put his arm around Duke and gently sat him in his lap after lowering himself onto the toilet. The two sat in silence for a few minutes. Eventually Dukes sobs became sniffles and the occasional hiccup.

"Duke?" Tristan inquired.

"Hm?"

"What brought this on?"

"…nothing."

"C'mon, there had to be something."

"Really, it was nothing. I just…" _started hearing voices talk shit about me and my inadequacy_ "…got really upset."

"Really." Tristan quirked a brow.

"Yeah. I think I just needed a good cry and was overly tired."

They sat in silence for a while longer.

"But that doesn't explain why you were feeling insecure about your looks."

"Look, will you just drop it? I told you, I was tired and sad and started to cry!" Duke began to storm away. But a hand shot out and grabbed his. Attempting to jerk out of Tristan's grasp, he accidently brought both of them to the hard tile ground.

Ignoring the pain Tristan said, "No, I won't drop it! Now what's wrong!?"

"Fine. But can we get off the floor for this?"

"Sure. You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good. Let's get out of the bathroom."

The two walked out of the bathroom and into the living room. They settled together on a couch, before Duke untangled himself and sat far away from his boyfriend. Then, feeling a little remorseful, moved back a little closer.

"Duke…"Tristan murmured.

"Sometimes I just don't feel good enough, alright? Sometimes I just feel like a failure and useless, like a smudged trophy. Okay, there, are you happy?"

"No…"  
"Why not!"

"…prepare yourself for a mushy power-of-love speech. The reason I'm not happy is because you're hurting. And when you hurt, I hurt. Duke, you're the most beautiful thing in the world to me. I don't care if you break every bone in your body, or have a hump-back, or if you had burns all over your face. I love you, and you will never, ever, be a failure of useless to me."

Duke paused for a moment, glassy eyed.

"Y'know, if I didn't love you, I'd sock you right now." He finished that thought with a wet, slightly snotty kiss. Tristan cuddled him into his chest.

"I think we should call off of work."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. Personally, I'd like to go back to bed."

**There you go a nice emotional Chaseshipping fic. I remember reading on Tumblr how someone thought that Duke would have a few deep-seated emotional issues and I think that makes sense. I feel like he'd be totally paranoid about becoming ugly and getting older, because he's so dependent on his looks. I also think he'd be afraid of losing them, because they have some power and without them, he's weak. I dunno. Sorry if Tristan's a bit off, I'm not really sure how he'd feel about seeing his significant other crying in the bathroom at six in the morning. Hope you enjoyed. **


End file.
